The distance that light travels in 1 year (a light year) is 5.88 times 10 Superscript 12 miles. If a star is 4.6 times 10 Superscript 7 light years from Earth, what is this distance in miles?

Enter your answer in scientific notation. Round the coefficient to two decimal places.
I think you have to divide and I got 1.28 multiply by 10 to the power of 5 because you need to get the miles per year but it says it's wrong. Help please

First of all, online "^" is used to indicate an exponent, e.g., x^2 = x squared, and “*” is used to indicate multiplication to avoid confusion with “x” as an unknown.

Also when multiplying/dividing, exponents are added/subtracted respectively.

5.88*10^12 * 4.6*10^7 = 27.048*10^19

To find the distance in miles, we need to multiply the distance in light years by the conversion factor, which is the distance traveled by light in one year (5.88 x 10^12 miles).

Let's break down the calculation step by step:

1. Start with the given distance in light years: 4.6 x 10^7 light years.
2. Multiply this distance by the conversion factor: (4.6 x 10^7) x (5.88 x 10^12 miles/light year).
3. When multiplying numbers in scientific notation, you multiply the coefficients (4.6 x 5.88) and add the exponents (10^7 + 10^12).

Calculating the coefficient: 4.6 x 5.88 = 27.048.
Adding the exponents: 10^7 + 10^12 = 10^19.

So, the result is 2.7048 x 10^19 miles.

Round the coefficient to two decimal places: 2.70 x 10^19 miles.

Therefore, the distance from the star to Earth is approximately 2.70 x 10^19 miles.